Sunday carwash to pay for funeral of teen shot to death in Wilmington

Friends of an 18-year-old man shot to death in a Wilmington alley will hold a carwash on Sunday to raise money for his funeral expenses.

Anthony Hyman was shot at 8:15 a.m. Monday near the 1300 block of East Cruces Street as he got into his mother's car to drive himself to school. An only child, he lived with his mother nearby.

"He's a kid that was getting ready to graduate in December," said family friend James Griffith. He was going into an apprenticeship for pipefitting at the pipefitters union."

The motive for the crime was not known. Hyman was not a gang member, Los Angeles police Detective Patricia Batts said.

"We are really stumped on this one," she said. "Just a good kid on his way to school. It's really, really tragic."

Batts said the crime is not considered drug-related and Hyman did not appear to be robbed.

Griffith called Hyman a "churchgoing kid" who loved God. A former Banning High School student, he was attending a continuation school in Long Beach and trying to keep his grades up so he could enter the pipefitting program.

"There's no reason why he needed to die," Griffith said. "He had a full life ahead of him and this apprenticeship program would have been a great opportunity for him to make some serious money and help his mom."

Police asked anyone with information about the crime to call detectives Patricia Batts or David Alvarez at 310-726-7889 or 310-726-7879.

The carwash will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday at Eddie's Tire City, 825 W. Pacific Coast Highway.